


The Birds and the Bears

by coraxes



Series: polymachina 'verse [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Polyamory Negotiations, awkward sibling talks, established-ish polymachina, not incest don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 20:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7984357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coraxes/pseuds/coraxes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, Vax has got it into his head that Vex isn't completely alright with the new...thing they're all trying out.  Which is wrong, because she is completely fine, really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Birds and the Bears

**Author's Note:**

> continuing my love of awkward sibling talks, here's vex and vax talking polyamory. i love their relationship, and i hope i did it justice. this is NOT incest; my version of polymachina involves vex and vax sleeping with the same people, but never at the same time. 
> 
> takes place vaguely after the defeat of the chroma conclave, and BEFORE the other oneshot in this series.

Vex woke early enough that she expected to be the first one down to breakfast, even after she finished washing up and making sure that all the clothes she was wearing actually belonged to her.  She did not expect to see her brother, already eating and looking as though he hadn’t bothered to do _either_ of those things. 

 

“Morning, Stubby,” Vax said blearily.  His hair was a mess.  Apparently he had tried to put it into a bun, but it mostly looked like a bird’s nest.

 

Well, he’d seen her, so she couldn’t do the mature thing and run out of the room.  Vex took a seat across from him and determinedly reached for the (not-chicken-skin, she _loved_ being home) bacon.  “Morning.”

 

“Lovely weather we’re having.”

 

Vex snorted.  Vax smiled serenely at her.  “My _dear_ brother, is there something you’d like to talk about?”

 

He put down his mug of tea.  “Well, now that you mention it, yes.”

 

Oh, shit.  This was going to be one of those things where Vax wanted to talk about feelings, wasn’t it?  He had that look in his eye and that determined set to his mouth.  A speech was incoming.  Well, joke was on him, because Vex was _so_ alright in the feelings department.  She was _excellent._

 

“This is all just fucking weird, right?” said Vax.  He tugged at his shirtsleeve, which made his point quite well, since it was Percy’s.  As in, Vex’s boyfriend Percy’s, who had slept with Vax last night because they were all trying out this polyamory thing. 

 

Maybe she was not quite excellent in the feelings department.  Vex had been trying not to think of it; Pike had helped last night.  At least her brother was here to be blunt for her.  “Yes, okay, it’s fucking weird,” she admitted.

 

“You know Grog keeps asking about a threesome with the two of us?” Vax said, his nose wrinkled. 

 

Vex made a retching noise.

 

“My thoughts exactly.”

 

“At least he hasn’t asked about Trinket,” said Vex. 

 

They shared a grin at that, but then Vax’s face went abruptly serious.  “Really, though, are you alright with all of this?  I know it’s weird, us…sharing the same people, and it’s all happened very suddenly.  We don’t have to do this, you know— _I_ don’t have to do this.”

 

And that was _just_ like her darling, stupid brother, wasn’t it?  He knew how much Vex wanted (needed) all their friends’ love, and she knew how much he loved having it, and now he was offering to give it all up if that made her uncomfortable.  Well, she wasn’t going to take that from him.  Vex squeezed his hand on the table.  “Yes, you do.  You love them as much as I do, it isn’t fair.  And I’m fine, really, I am.”

 

“Are you?”  He raised his eyebrows.  “You know as well as I do that this sort of thing won’t work unless we talk to each other, Vex’ahlia.  All of us.”

 

“You’re using my full name; now I know you’re being serious,” she teased, rolling her eyes.  There was a complicated mix of emotions in her stomach, but she was an expert at hiding things like that.  Maybe not very well, from Vax, but he couldn’t make her talk about them if she didn’t want to.

 

Still.  He was right.  She had learned to be honest with Percy, and she was learning to have the same sort of honesty with Pike; if Vax was going to be mixed up in all this, too, she supposed that she could deal with that.  “Like you said, this is really fucking weird.  And I—I am jealous, sometimes.  It feels like…I know it’s silly.  But it feels like this means I’m not enough.”  She gave a nervous little laugh.  Her eyes felt watery for some unaccountable reason, even though she _wasn’t_ feeling much of anything and this _wasn’t_ a big deal, not at all.

 

“That’s not silly at all,” said Vax.  “But you _are_ enough, you know—I think that if we all decided today that this…thing wasn’t working out, Percy would still be happy just with you.  It’s not about being enough.”

 

“I know that, I know—it’s not like I don’t want the same thing, you know?  Like Pike, I’ve always loved Pike, I know it doesn’t mean I love Percy less.  I suppose it’s the same thing that made me angry when you first started with Keyleth.  I don’t like to feel as if—oh _shit._ ”  This last because she had actually started crying now.  Vex dabbed furiously at her eyes with her sleeve.  She hated telling Vax things like this; she felt like she was lowering herself, somehow. 

 

Vax patted down the pockets of his borrowed shirt and came up with a handkerchief, with Vex gratefully took.  “It’s much too early for this,” she muttered.

 

“Well, we had to talk about it some time,” said Vax dryly.  “And you always make excuses at night, so…”

 

Vex paused in the middle of blowing her nose as a suspicion struck her.  “Were you waiting up for me?”

 

“I, ah.”  He cleared his throat.  “I may have gotten up early and waited outside your room to see when you woke up.  And also told Pike to stay out of the dining hall when she woke before you.”

 

“Ass,” said Vex without much heat.  Then, “I suppose I did need to talk about it.  But you’re still an ass.  And I do still want to do this, even if it is a bit awkward.  We’ll just…not share, and not talk about our sex lives.  Deal?”

 

“Deal.”  Vax offered her a fist bump, which Vex accepted. 

**Author's Note:**

> since i doubt i'll ever write a "how it happened" fic, here's my version of how it might have happened and what the different 'ships would look like in my version of polymachina. there's a bit more info in the first fic in this series, but this might help to clear things up.
> 
> i feel like the starter couples would be vaxleth and perc'ahlia. but pike admits to being in love with percy, and everyone's a bit in love with pike, so percy and vex and pike try out three-some-ing. scanlan's still pining over pike and pike has feelings for him--not necessarily romantic love, but friendship love with romantic feelings--and so after some adjusting they give that a shot, too.
> 
> meanwhile, vax admits to jonesing over grog a bit to keyleth, and keyleth is sort of intrigued by a threesome, and it works out...really well. and then vax admits to being interested in percy, too, and they try that out. (which is when this fic takes place.) eventually keyleth and pike might have a thing, and it slowly permutates into everyone being together--maybe not as often or as intensely, but they've always been a unit and now sex and romance are in the mix too. and they have group date nights that traumatize the servants who find them in the morning.
> 
> vex and vax never do agree to a threesome, because i have siblings and trust me that would be weird as shit.


End file.
